University of Twente Student Theses

Enhancing Video Game Design: Involving Users into the Design of Video Games

This bachelor thesis explores possible uses of participatory design into the early stages of game design. This was done by looking at existing solutions found in other types of software development and was tested on a prototype of a game that was made especially for this project.
Currently there is a severe lack of user participation in the most early stages of game design, Causing prototypes and game ideas to be neglected after the first playtest deems them not fun enough. These game concepts could be explored more with feedback from actual members of a target group to make a new prototype. For big companies this would be deemed a less efficient development method, but for smaller companies revising their earlier concepts or work with their potential customers from the start, this could prevent a loss of money and resources.
The research was conducted on a prototype of a game that was made alongside the early stages of this research. The game was designed based on other studies that tried to make the concept of fun quantifiable, to make sure the prototype has a certain level of fun upon which testers could improve. The game also contained several tools to measure the player’s performance during gameplay. The testers got to play the prototype and got the opportunity to say what aspects they would improve. The feedback gained from the playtests and the data gathered by the game showed a lot of potential ways to improve the game. How well these ideas and improvements are in comparison with the prototype built for this thesis could not be tested yet because of time constraints and this should be done be done in a future project.